Jared Kushner, senior advisor to President Trump, is under scrutiny by the FBI for meetings and conversations with officials and representatives of the Russian government, all of which he neglected to detail in his application for a security clearance (which, if done knowingly, is a felony under 18 USC 1001).

One of the interactions he failed to disclose was a meeting with Sergey Gorkov in December. Gorkov is head of VneshEconomBank, (VEB), was appointed to the position personally by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and is a graduate of the Russian academy of the Federal Security Service, which trains people to work in Russia's intelligence and security forces. (In other words, he graduated from spy school for the Russian Intelligence Services.)

Kushner has not commented publicly about why he met with a Russian banker, or why he tried to set up an extra-governmental communication channel with the Kremlin, based in the Russian Embassy. (The Russians declined his bizarre and troubling offer.)​Kushner’s financing of a building at 666 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, which he bought in 2007 just before prices plummeted, has drawn attention in recent months. Kushner’s company lost a lot of money and nearly became insolvent as a result of the purchase.The Chinese company Anbang called off talks about redeveloping the office building in March of 2017. There has been speculation that talks with the Russian bank, which is currently under sanctions due to Russia’s incursion into Crimea, may be related to a need for financing for Kushner’s business.

Kushner’s sister in May 2017 received criticism for presentations she made in Beijing, offering a fast track to entrepreneur visas in the United States for individuals willing and able to invest at least $500,000 in Kushner’s building projects. While U.S. reporters were barred from the event, photos taken through the open doorway show that President Trump's photo featured prominently in the presentation, suggesting that perhaps close ties to the White House might lead to faster processing of visas for wealthy investors.

A new report by New York Times Magazine and ProPublica features interviews with tenants of low-income housing in Baltimore managed by a company of Jared Kushner’s, JK2Westminster. Over the last five years JK2 Westminster and affiliated businesses have filed hundreds of cases against some of the residents of the 8,000 apartments and townhouses owned and managed by subsidiaries of Kushner Companies, which until recently was run by Jared Kushner.

It is becoming clear that Kushner’s business ties were not severed at the time of his acceptance of a job in the Trump administration. Reporters are becoming interested in Kushner’s business dealings, and their potential for influencing U.S. foreign policy and national security.